Cartridge implement



(No Model.)

' v J. H. BARLOW.

CARTRIDGE IMPLEMENT.

Patented Mar. 11, 1884'.

INVBNTOR I WITNESSES:-

ATTORNBY I min TATE JOHN H. BAR-LOV, OF NEIV HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

CARTRIDGE IMPLEMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 1Y0. 294,955, dated March 11,1884.

Application filed January 5, 188-1. (X0 model.) I i To all whom, it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, JOHN H. BARLO'W, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented ccrtain new and useful Improvements in' Cartridge-Reloading Implements, of which the following is aspeeification, reference being bad therein to the aceompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of my improved reloading implement, partly in section. The ends of the levers which serve as handles are represented as broken off to bring the view within the margin. Fig. 2 is aplan of the end of that portion of. the upper lever which opcrates, in conjunction with other parts hereinafter described, as a reeapper and shell-reducer. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the movable latches which serve as extractors. Fig. 4 is a plan of the adjustable crimping plate. Fig. 5 is a vertical section, together with an end view of a modification of the shellreducing chamber, more fully explained hereinafter.

My invention relates-to improvements in an implement or tool used for reloading cent-ralfire metallic cartridges after the same have been discharged.

In the manufacture of central-fire metallic cartridges great care is exercised to obtain a uniformity and exactness in the sizes of the several parts which constitute the cartridge, which is accomplished by special machinery and tools adapted to that purpose, special attention being given to sizing that part of the cartridge-shell into which the bullet is afterward secured. This operation of sizing the shells-called reducing-is a distinct one by itself, and is a vital elementin the construction of accurate-shooting cartridges. Again, cartridges, when new, do not fit the chamber of the gun closely, to facilitate placing them in the chamber readily. Consequently, when the cartridge is discharged, the shell is immediately expanded, filling the chamber in the gun. The extent of this expansion of shell varies with different make of guns, some makers allowing more and some less space in the chamber; but there is sufficient in all to make the shell too large for the bullet; therefore it becomes necessary to reduce or 'resizc the ball end of the shell before a new charge of powder and bullet is placed in the shell, to produce a reloaded cartridge having that de gree of accuracy which characterizes a factoryloaded cartridge.

In reloading implements made prior to this invention the operation of reducing the cartridge-shell to its former ball size was either dispensed with altogether or attempted to be done in the same chamber and at the same time when the powder and bullet were being pressed into their respective positions; but as the material composing the bullet is non-elastic and the cartridge-shell made of a material containing considerable elasticity, it will be apparent that the shell could not be reduced in this manner, and at the same time secure the bullet firmly in the shell, as the elastic'shell, upon being removed from the reloadingchamber, would expand sufficiently to make the bullet loose, because the bullet, be-

ing non-elastic, would remain at the minimum point of compression. It is often desirable to have these cartridges loaded to a uniform length. In order to do this, reloaders have been constructed heretofore so as to use the chamber in which the reca ppi n was performed to crimp the end of the shell upon the bullet-an operation attendant with many hazardous risks, as the same pin or stud used to insert a primer in the shell must be used to deliver the heavy pressure necessary to turn or crimp the end of the shell, and this is performed aft er the cartridge is loaded, placing the operator in danger from premature explosion of the'ea-rtridge.

I11 reloading implements made hitherto,various deviccshave been employed to extract the cartridge from the reloading-chambers, none of which will permit the operator to regain a hold upon the cartridge should it be dropped back into the chamber or be accidentally pressed into the same otherwise than by the use of the levers.

The design of this invention is to provide a eartridge-reloading implement which shall enable the operator to restore the expanded cartridge-shell to its former sizeespeeially that part into which the bullet is secured-before proceeding to reload the same, therebyacquiring the same degree of accuracy in the reloaded cartridge which characterizes the factory-loaded cartridge; .also,.to obviate some of the dangerous operations connected with the use of reloaders as constructed heretofore; also, to facilitate the removal of the cartridges from the reloading-chambers in the implement; and to this end it consists in a cartridge-reloading implement having two levers hinged together, one of which is provided with aseparate chamber for resizing or reducing that part of the shell into which the bullet is to be secured, substantially as and for the purpose hereinafter described.

It consists, further, in a cartridge-reloading implement having two levers hinged together, one of which is provided with a shell-reducing chamber, which is adapted to be used in conjunction with the other lever for recapping the cartridge-shells, substantially as and for the purpose hereinafter specified.

It consists, further, in a cartridge-reloading implement having two levers hinged together, one of which is provided with suitable cham bers for reloading the shells, and the other being provided with one or more movable latches, substantially as and for the purpose hereinafter shown and described.

It consists, finally, in the construction and arrangement of the parts, substantially as and for the purpose hereinafter shown and de scribed.

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts in each of the figures.

To construct my improved reloader, two strong levers, A and B, are pivoted or hinged together at a, as represented in Fig. 1. The lever B is provided with a recess, 1), opposite to which, in the lever A, is arranged the sharppointed pin 0, which are used in connection with each other for removing the old cap from the shell. This device, being old, needs no further description. The lever B has a cylindrical projection on its lower side, which is chambered from the top, the internal diameter of which is the same as the external diameter of the cartridge, having the bottom of the chamber made to correspond with the shape f the end of the bullet. This chamber is used for pressing the loaded cartridge to the required length, and is an old device also. 13 is also provided with an extension at the left of the hinge-joint a, into which is secured a suitable chamber for resizing or re ducing the ball size of the cartridge-shells. I have shown this reducing-chamber as consisting of separate piece (I, having a tubular form, and attached to the lever B by means of a screw-thread. I do not confine myself to the use of a detachable reducing-chamber, as it might be made in the lever 13 itself. Neither do I confine myself to the use of a solid unchangeable form of chamber for reducing the shells, for it is many times desirable to have a means of adjusting the size of the reducingchamber, in whichlcase the form illustrated by Fig. 5 would be preferable, in which the reducing-chamber d is provided with longitudiing a shoulder on its internal surface, as at o in Fig. 1, for turning or crimping the end of 8Q the cartridge-shell upon the bullet for the purpose of securing-the bullet in position firmly. hen the cartridge is dlS0l12t1g6l,tlllS crimped end of the shell does not straighten, and I have shown the extreme end of this projection on lever B as having the form of an inverted frustum, 1, in section, which is to be used in straightening the crimped mouth of the shell. The lever A has suitable bosses, s and s, corresponding with the diameter of the cartridgehead. Through these bosses s and s, and longitudinally with the lever A, a narrow slot is cut, in which the movable latches wand 00 and their respective springs are adapted to operate. By reference to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the latch-hooks m and x are j ournaled upon pins located in the lever A in a vertical line over the center of the opposite chambers in lever This arrangement of the movable latches x 00 causes them to draw more closely under the cartridge-head whenever the levers are operated to extract the shell, also retaining hold of the cartridge until it is raised nearly out of the chamber. The top of the latch-hook a", upon which the spring at operates, being made flat, the spring it holds the latch-hook :t' in proper positio1i,when not under the cartridge-head, as shown, to strike the shell when the levers A and B are closed together and spring over the edge of the head, small slots t in the lever B permitting the movable latch 00 to pass beneath the head of the shell, as shown in Fig. 1. 7.: is a button having a small circular projection in the center, and 111- serted in the end of the lever A, and used in pressing the shells into the reducing-chamber d, also for inserting the primer to into the pocket in the end of the shell. Another movable latch similar to and arranged to operate in the same manner as x :0, already described, is placed in the end of the lever Afor the purpose of withdrawing the shell from the reducing-chamber d.

XVhen the parts are constructed and arranged in the positions shown in Fi 1, the implement is used as follows, viz: The frustum-point 3 on lever 13 is forced into the mouth of the cartridgeshell, whereby the crimped end is straightened. The shell is then inserted into the reducing-chamber (Z and forced home by opening the levers A and B. The shell thus reduced is withdrawn from the chamber d by closing the levers together, with the I used, in connection with the lever A, as a movable latch arranged in the end of lever A. The shell being again inserted in chamber (1, the primer a is pressed into the pocket in end of shell with the central projection of the button k by opening levers A and B, as before. The cartridge-shell is then ready for charging with suitable ammunition, after which it is placed in the chamber located in the solid pro- IO jection of the lever B, where the powder is compressed and the bullet entered into the shell the proper length by closing the levers A and B together. As the cartridge thus loaded hasto be passed into another chamber or other suitable device for crimping the end of the shell, it is quite essential that the bullet should not be moved out of the shell by the expansion of the compressed powder within, which is invariably the case if the shell is not resized before loading. By means of the nut g, the crimp-plate O, is adapted to be moved vertically upon the external surface of the 'loading-chamber to adjust the crimping-shoulder 0 to suit different lengths of shells.

This crimp-plate C also has a radial movement about this chamber, by which means it is enabled to be centered accurately when pressing the cartridge into the crimping-aperture 01, thereby insuring a very even and accurate crimp, which adds greatly to the qualities of the cartridge. The cartridge is extracted from the loading and crimping chambers by the movable latches w and 0c. The longitudinal slots through the bosses s and s arelocated in the center, thereby removing any liability of pressureupon the cap or primer in the shell while in the act of pressing the powder or that of crimping the end of the loaded cartridge-shell.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to'secure by Letters Patent, is-

'1. The combination, in a cartridge-reloading implement, of the two levers A and B, hinged together, one of said levers being provided with a suitable loading-chamber, also a separate chamber, (1, which is adapted to be shell reducer and recapper, the other lever being provided with a suitable device for withdrawing the cartridge from the chambers, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination, in a cartridge-reloading implement, of the two levers A and B, hinged together, one of said levers being provided with suitable loading-chambers, the other lever having one or more movable latches adapted to pass under the rim of the cartridgehead when the cartridge is seated in theloading-chambers, engaging therewith to withdraw the same from the loading-chambers, as set forth.

3. The combination, in a cartridge-reloading implement, of the two levers A and B,

hinged together, one of said levers having suitable devices for extracting the cartridge from the chambers, the other lever being provided with loading-chambers, together with the taper projection y,for-expanding the mouth of the shell, substantially as described.

4. The combination, in a cartridge-reloading implement, of the lever A, provided with the movable latches a; x, for the purpose described, the lever B, provided with a loadingchamber, a separate chamber, cl, arranged to operate as a shell reducer and recapper, also an aperture for crimping the loaded cartridge, arranged to operate in connection with the radially-adj ustable crimp -plate 0, substan tially as set forth.

5. The combination, in a cartridge-reloading implement, of the shell-expander 3/, reducing-chamber d, radially-adjustable crimpplate 0, movable latches xx, together with the hinged levers A vB, having suitable loadingchamber, all arranged to operate substantially as and for the purpose shown and described.

In testimony whereofI affix my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

JOHN H. BARLOXV. VVi tnesses:

LoUIs J. DAY, E. N. ALLING. 

